Nicaea was one of the most productive civic mints in Bithynia under the Severan dynasty, issuing bronze coinage in Caracalla's name across nearly his entire reign — from his elevation to co-emperor under Septimius Severus in 198 through his murder by a soldier near Carrhae in 217. The city had long competed with neighboring Nicomedia for the title of first city of Bithynia, and prolific coin output was partly a tool of that rivalry, demonstrating civic prestige through sheer volume of imperial flattery in bronze.
Nicaea was one of the most productive civic mints in Bithynia under the Severan dynasty, issuing bronze coinage in Caracalla's name across nearly his entire reign — from his elevation to co-emperor under Septimius Severus in 198 through his murder by a soldier near Carrhae in 217. The city had long competed with neighboring Nicomedia for the title of first city of Bithynia, and prolific coin output was partly a tool of that rivalry, demonstrating civic prestige through sheer volume of imperial flattery in bronze.